Unwanted visitor

[kool55]

About 3 weeks back a hunter friend had his bass boat in my pond fishing with his two young nephews. Within an hour he came out with a water moccasin.He over cast it with his line and snagged it with a six hook lure .Needless to say that was the last swim for that snake.It also made me more aware of my surroundings when I am around the pond.

 

[Hapis]

Yet another good use for a snake......

 

[Junkman]

Junkman ... I believe you have a Northern Water snake there, which of course is not venomous. I assume you are from Connecticut and you may find it interesting that there are only 2 venomous snakes in your area. The bad snakes are the timber rattler and the copperhead, both are pit vipers.

There are 2 ways to easily ID the bad from the good snakes in your area. Both the rattler and the copperhead have a triangular head, along with elliptical eyes (vertical shape). Now, all the other snakes in your area (the nonvenmous ones) don't have that triangular head and their eyes are round (kinda like a person's pupils and exactly like the snake in your pictures).

You may be interested in the link here for snakes in your state. Also, if I remember from this research that both of those venomous snakes in CT are on the endangered list, meaning it's against the law to cause harm to them.

http://www.ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/wildlife/pdf_files/nongame/snkwebview.pdf

If you check that list carefully, you will find that Junkman is listed as being endangered also. When push comes to shove, any poisonous snake that mess's with Junkman will not live to tell about it.. End of story

 

[brockstar]

Phew. Glad to know that I am not the only one with a strong frear of snakes..

Heck yes I would hit one with my purse. At least that way I would have something in hand to kill the snake with.

 

[om-nc]

This is skunk 1 of 3 that I have trapped in the yard this year along with an opposum. All have been released with a major 4 lane highway and a river between me and them

I have no use for snakes or spiders. For me there are 2 kinds of snakes, GOOD ones and live ones. As long as they stay away from me they are safe...

 

[eborcim]

You should mark the animals to see if they are repeat offenders.

 

[BirdRacer]

Found this puppy in my shop Saturday. Sorry for the terrible cell phone pic.

Sadly....he(she?) didn't make it....

 

[35mastr]

This is skunk 1 of 3 that I have trapped in the yard this year along with an opposum. All have been released with a major 4 lane highway and a river between me and them

I have no use for snakes or spiders. For me there are 2 kinds of snakes, GOOD ones and live ones. As long as they stay away from me they are safe...

How did you get close enough to pick up that trap without being sprayed by the skunk??

 

[v8garage]

Snakes feed on mice. Get rid of the mice and you will get rid of the snakes. My daughter was having snake problems around her place. I advised her to get rid of her mice problem and the snake problem would go away. She called an exterminator and he told her exactly the same thing that I had just told her.
V/8

 

[4-RunDog]

How did you get close enough to pick up that trap without being sprayed by the skunk??

x2 That had to be interesting. I think I would rather have the skunk run away on its own, than try to get rid of it that way. If you have dogs the skunk can be your biggest enemy!

 

[billspit]

This is skunk 1 of 3 that I have trapped in the yard this year along with an opposum. All have been released with a major 4 lane highway and a river between me and them

I have no use for snakes or spiders. For me there are 2 kinds of snakes, GOOD ones and live ones. As long as they stay away from me they are safe...

So you kill snakes and relocate rabies carrying vermin. Brilliant!

 

[om-nc]

How did you get close enough to pick up that trap without being sprayed by the skunk??

VERY carefully. Seriously, skunks have poor eyesight and I just used a large beach towel to mask my movement. You know, hold the towel in front of you as you walk towards the cage. Move slowly and if you see the skunk start pounding its front feet on the ground, slow down, that is their warning sign. Cover the cage. Pick up covered cage while wearing thick gloves and place in back of truck, transport, remove cage, place on ground and open door while the cage is covered. You might have to pull the cover off to get the skunk to come out since the are nocturnal.

Supposedly using the right sized cage will also prevent the skunk from being able to lift their tail to spray. Your mileage may vary.

I attached another photo of #1 release.

Billspit, we can agree to disagree and join me with a

 

[Canadian Charlie]

The only good snake is a dead snake

 

[Romanova]

If I had a dollar for ever possum I ran over, I'd have $9 since I moved to TX 4 years ago. Has to be one of the stupidest animals on the planet...

 

[Junkman]

skunks spray by jumping up the hind quarters, and when they land, the pressure of the rear legs compress's the scent sack and sprays out the contents.
When I was in college, the man that I worked for told me about his brother driving the Model T down the road, and saw a skunk. He told his brother to get on the running board, and grab the skunk by the tail. He did what he was told, since he was very young. Then his brother stopped the car and told him to set the skunk down. That is when he learned about how skunks spray. That is where I learned about this. When I sold skunks as pets in my shop, they were already descented, but they would still stomp there rear feet when they felt threatened. This is a instinctive behaviour, not a learned behavior. They are no longer allow to be sold as pets, so the farm raised skunks are no longer available. Trying to find a veternarian to remove the sent gland today is probably impossible. It was a minor surgery performed just after birth on the skunk farm.

 

[Tom2]

Just saw another snake crossing the road today. Fairly small.

Also a dead one in the street a couple houses down. It was flattened pretty good. Looked like it must have been huge. It's possible it was ran over when someone was mowing their grass and just shot into the street.


It seems like some years are worse for reptiles than others..
I've also happened to see a lot of turtles this year. Don't think I had ever seen one around here before.

Once we get into the heat of the summer, hopefully they'll kinda settle down until Fall.

 

[GN4WHLN]

Never had a snake in the garage, but I caught a big raccon in there once; bigger than ones I have seen in the wild. also found a opposum in there one time. My dad has some skunks that live on his property. Occasionally, one finds his way into the garage. They have a mutual understanding about leaving each other alone.